Well, the Super Swim in London didn't go as well as I had planned. Not that I didn't make my time. It's kind of hard to make your time, or your personal best, or even get wet when you don't even make the swim.
Yes, I'm a dork. Yes, I looked at my itinerary. Many times. Yes, I got to the airport on time. Problem was, it was the wrong airport. And in Moscow, it takes forever to cross the city.
I went to Sheremetyevo Airport, in the north of Moscow. I was supposed to go to Domodedevo, in the south of Moscow.
Looks straightforward. But it's not. That route would take about 2 hours. Driving would take you 3 to 3.5 hours. In Moscow, most use the Aeroexpress train, which leaves from one of the metro stops.
We got to Sheremetyevo at 4:10pm for a 6:40pm flight. We figured out quickly that we were at the wrong airport so we jumped back on the Aeroexpress train back to the metro. The train left at 4:30 and was due to arrive the metro at 5:05. We would then have to take the circle line (brown metro line) from Beloruskaya metro station to Paveletskaya, a trip of at least 20-25 minutes (dragging the luggage from the train station, or vokzal, to the metro, and doing the same at the other end). So we would have missed the 5:30 Aeroexpress train. That means the 6:00 train to Domodedevo, which would get in at 6:47, seven minutes after the flight took off.
So on the train from Sheremetyevo back to the metro, I called the airline to try and get on a later flight. No luck. The 6:40 was the last flight to London. And the next day no open seats except on the 6:40pm, but for another 300 euros. That flight would have been worthless because that would have gotten me to London 12 hours after the swim.
I made a hard choice, and called Expedia and cancelled the trip. It cost me. But not as much as it could have cost me because I bought the travel insurance (which I bought in case my boss changed his mind). The total trip (2 roundtrip tickets and one hotel for three nights) was $1100. I got refunded $870. Basically, what I lost was the cost of travel insurance and one night in the hotel.
Now, the worst part is that everyone at work knows...here come the taunts...
no taunting here... sounds just like something I would do... Im so so so sorry!! Trying to find the positive here and having a really hard time .... hang in there! I guess I should say what my husband always tells me.... there is a reason for everything... and sometimes we never know that reason... but there is a reason! When is your next swim planned?
Posted by: Nicki | 11 July 2010 at 13:05
Next swim is at the end of August. And it IS at Sheremetyevo airport. It is a 2K race in Copenhagen around the Danish parliament in their canals.
No need to find the positive or feel sorry for me. I'm the dork.
Posted by: IronMike | 11 July 2010 at 15:34